Justin Roberts And The Hazing Of Talent

So to prerequisite. I was bore before certain people took offensive to every fart and cough that goes on across the realms of social media/life.

I'm currently in the midst of reading Just Roberts book on his time within the walls of the WWE. In it, he talks at length about the troubles he had on international tours with the likes of JBL and Chris Benoit, who were both on Smackdown at the time.

They allegedly berated him on the tour bus, threw his luggage off the bus, and at one point in the Far East, JBL allegedly had both buses stopped on the side of the road (one 'face' bus, one 'heel' bus) and made Roberts transport his gear from the face bus to the heel bus, and continued their verbal assault on him all the way to the hotel.

Further instances include alleged public degradation from the likes of Triple H, who I thought in my own personal opinion would have been a little more professional given his time in the business by that point (mid-2000's).

Reading this evoked anger from me. I can't explain why. We all know JBL was a complete and utter jizz stain of a human being from many accounts, and Hunter at the time was the bosses son-in-law so I guess he figured he could get away with anything.

The question, I guess is this. I get that hazing was a part of the business for a long time, but should that kind of bullying have been tolerated in the middle of the 2000's? The guy was a ring announcer, and whilst I'm all for understanding that there are two sides to every story, I'm veering towards believing Robert's statement on things.

Do you believe Roberts account of how he was treated? How would you handle that level of treatment in a workplace like the WWE?

The WWE is most concerned with its public reputation than anything, and this often seems to cause them to forget that they live in the Information Age. The best way for them to prevent horrific stories of hazing to go viral is to teach its staff not to behave like deranged lunatics.

Benoit had always been one of those curmudgeons that felt that he deserved more than he ever got, and would often take out his rage on the younger athletes. If he had an excuse to berate and humiliate someone, he would take it. People like Stone Cold, Bret Hart, and The Undertaker were aware of it but did nothing. What's most amazing is that they all kept a straight face when they acted as if they didn't foresee Chris' murder suicide involving his family. If you see a sadistic sociopath emotionally terrorizing other people, step in and let them know that their behavior is unacceptable. Maybe get them the help that they obviously need, instead of letting them take chair shots to the back of the head and letting them perform headbutts off the top rope.

JBL literally didn't know that he was alive unless he was assassinating the character of someone else. The Undertaker enabled him, and in turn JBL enabled Bob Holly. If you look into any report of hazing within the WWE, it inevitably leads back to JBL in some way. He only ever got his run with the world title because HHH didn't want to work on Tuesday, and he only carried the belt for as long as he did because The Undertaker felt sorry for him. His tag team with Farooq was neat, but hardly stands as one of Farooq's better tag teams or as a better example of Ron Simmons' prowrestling career in general. JBL went on to try to portray himself as a James Lipton-esque interviewer on the WWE Network, and that failed more miserably than his career as a prowrestler.

HHH was likely still going through his phase where everyone worth their salt in the prowrestling industry saw him as a great sidekick, but not having capability on par with the likes of The Rock, Brock Lesnar, or The Undertaker. HHH, for my money, could never remain popular on his own. He had a great return after his quad injury, but few if any people still paid attention to him after he subsequently dropped the undisputed championship to Hogan. He's done great things as a manager and as the guy who builds bridges between the WWE and people who Vince had previously alienated with his own stupidity. Back when HHH was struggling for relevance as DX was becoming stale, it wouldn't surprise me that he was taking liberties with individuals that actually had natural talent.

From what I can tell, all three men were very insecure with themselves at the time and it's very likely that they abused Justin Roberts because they saw him as an easy target. Chris Benoit's name is now a metaphor for the sorriest scum that has ever lived, JBL can't show his face on a prowrestling card without being laughed at, and HHH is a much better behind the scenes guy than anything else. Given time, bullies fail to live up to their own standards.